Jets knock over the Sharks
Write this Manawatu¯ Jets team off at your peril.
Second to last the Jets may be, but the third-placed Southland Sharks learnt the hard way as they were beaten 94-91 by the Jets at the Arena yesterday, their first win in Palmerston North this year.
That follows the Jets’ 106-103 double overtime loss to the Canterbury Rams in Christchurch on Friday night. The young Jets team have copped a couple of big losses this season, but they have tested some of the top sides and won’t be an easy team to beat for the rest of the year.
The win came at the death too as Theo Johnson hit a threepointer with five seconds left. Southland then had a chance to tie the scores, but Conor Morgan missed the three-pointer.
Import point guard Daishon Knight was involved in everything for the Jets, scoring a massive 45 points, not far off his mammoth 47 points on Friday night. He also had 13 rebounds and seven assists.
‘‘After coming off a tough loss to the Rams, in the locker room the energy was still great,’’ Knight said. ‘‘Everybody was still positive.
‘‘I’m just like that’s something good to build off and today we came out. We didn’t play too great, but we played together [and] ran more plays than we usually do. We shared the ball and we trusted each other.
‘‘Getting that win there – it doesn’t do too much for us in the rankings, but it motivates us. It just brings us more together and getting that win together is great – not only for us, but for the fans and the coaching staff.’’
Knight had a hand in the winning play too, as he drove to the basket and had two defenders on him, but he fired the ball back to an unmarked Johnson, who drained the shot from deep.
‘‘Everyone is expecting me or Kuran [Iverson] to shoot the ball,’’ Knight said. ‘‘I drove to the basket and I thought about 20 different things before I got there, and I know I saw Theo and I saw two people and I’m like I’m going to trust in my team-mate and believe in my team-mate.
‘‘Theo is a good shot, so why not pass it to him, and he hit the shot. It was amazing. I’m pretty sure everyone had confidence in him.’’
Iverson was the next best scorer, with 23 points and 18 rebounds.
Knight was telling the team during the game that the side that plays the most defence and plays together is the one that will win the game.
‘‘No matter how good one team is or how bad the next team is, if you play hard and you play together you’ve got a great chance of winning the game. We stuck together.’’
Initially, the Jets were getting beaten on the rebounds by the bigger Southland lineup and the Sharks were looking the better team in the first half.
But, as they have done all year, the Jets refused to go away and were down by just one at halftime, 47-46.
The Jets were better on defence in the second half and stopped Southland getting easy buckets, as they were in the first quarter.
Manawatu¯ led 53-47 after halftime, but a couple of mistakes let Southland come back to take the lead. From there, it was tit for tat for the rest of the game.
It set up a tense last quarter, but the Jets kept their noses in front.
Southland’s scoring was spread around, but they had big games from Morgan (17 points) and import Orlando Coleman (16 points, 13 rebounds).
Forward Alex Pledger was dominant early on, but faded out of the game.
Southland had former Jets James Hunter and Derone Raukawa in their side.
The Jets are away against the Bay Hawks next Sunday. Manawatu¯ Jets 94 (Daishon Knight 45, 13 rebounds, Kuran Iverson 16, 18 rebounds) Southland Sharks 91 (Conor Morgan 17, Orlando Coleman 16, 13 rebounds, James Hunter 13, Alex Pledger 12, Jarrad Weeks 11). HT 46-47.